Just a day after completing a deal for the arbitration eligible Mike Napoli, the Blue Jays have turned around and dealt the squat C/1B to the Rangers for the expendable Frank Francisco.

This deal has several implications. Firstly, it means the Rangers have no intention of moving Neftali Feliz to the rotation, a move that would have had startling fantasy meaning (would’ve been like the Sox moving Paps to the rotation back in the day). Sticking with the closer talk, the move is very interesting for those of us looking to scrape up some saves off the trash heap, as there are two intriguing candidates now in Toronto in Francisco and the newly acquired Octavio Dotel. Not being an ‘expert’ on handicapping saves, my best guess is that Francisco emerges as the Jays’ closer, as he has had success there in the past and isn’t as volatile as Dotel. But what do I know, Dotel has outstanding K potential and both are likely usable in all formats, regardless of who wins out in the closer competition, if there is one.

As for the deal’s implications in Texas, Napoli creates a sort of ripple effect. The deal all but takes the Rangers out of contention for Vlad the Impaler. The deal also makes for an interesting C/1B situation. Mitch Mooreland, playoff hero, figures to lose at bats, which is sad because I was curious to see what he could do with ample AB’s. Alas, he will likely have his plate appearances restricted as he learns the league. Of much less fantasy importance, save for position eligibility, Yorvit Torrealba figures to lose time behind the dish. Either position, the move is excellent for Napoli’s already good hitting numbers. Check out his career numbers at Rangers Ballpark… I’ll wait. Do those numbers look good? How bout for a catcher? Napoli’s value is sky high in terms of fantasy right now and he may be well worth an overdraft if you miss out on the big name catchers. He could be in for a monster season in a monster lineup.

As an interesting aside, the deal shows an interesting strategy on the Rangers part that I have been utilizing in fantasy for years: flexibility. With Mike Young and Napoli, the Rangers have players capable of playing multiple positions as well as DH. This is obviously a movement away from the big slugger-type DH’s in favor of having moveable parts. It works in football, we’ll see what the Rangers do with the flexibility in 2011. Hopefully Napoli stays put now because, while I like the guy in fantasy, three articles in 2 days would be pushing it.

5 responses to “Well, That Was Fast…”

I’m hoping that he’s going to be in the larger portion a 40/40/20 split with Torrealba and Treanor while platooning vs lefties at 1B and occasionally spelling Young as DH when Young or Beltre need to rest as that will get him a solid amount of AB’s.

If Cruz and Hamilton can stay healthy the additions of Napoli and Beltre make the Rangers’ lineup really, really scary.

the one thing I hate most is that the more I read on fangraphs about this trade, the more I read about people talking about the logjam in Texas for AB’s and the more I freak out about him getting his. I’m really counting on him to produce again next year.